Posts Tagged ‘L pod’
Friday, June 15th, 2012
We traveled all the way to Victoria BC to see three different pods of Southern Resident Killer Whales. When multiple pods of whales come together it is called a super pod!
Members of the J- and K-pods were traveling together, moving through Enterprise Channel between Victoria and Trial Island (48 24.46N, 12318.64W), with individuals from L-pod roughly 1 mile offshore. The whales were traveling in an easterly direction.
We were all captivated by the whales. At times over 20 whales were seen surfacing, including a number of mature males. Super pods only occur a handful of times during the season; such a treat to see so many whales together! A truly AMAZING day out here in the San Juan Islands!
Amy, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris Whale Watching and Wildlife Tours
Tags: j pod, K Pod, L pod, Orca whale, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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Saturday, June 9th, 2012
Today we caught up with 3 members of L-pod, a female and her offspring, on the west side of San Juan Island (Haro Strait 48°33’56.84N, 123°10’50.29W). They were headed south right against the shore line, moving at a very quick rate.
Within a few minutes of arriving we discovered that the female was L-55 also known as “Nugget” and one of the calves was L-118! We were very excited to see L-118 return home with mama because this calf was just born last year (2011) and can now be given a proper name.
It is days like these that really allow us to appreciate our Southern Resident Killer Whales, because although endangered, and battling many threats to their food and environment, mama still returns home with her calves showing us the true strength of the species.
We left the group at approximately 3:03 PM still making their way south, to catch up with the rest of the pod.
Naturalist Tara, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Endangered, Haro Strait, L pod, san juan island, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
Members of J-pod, K-pod, and L-Pod where traveling together again today out in Rosario Strait just southwest of Lopez Island; coordinates 48°24.051N 122°50.23W. Within a few minutes of reaching the area, the Sea Lion (our boat) was surrounded by whales on all sides! It didn’t matter in which direction we looked everyone was bound to see the whales surface. And man did it seem like they were in their realm!! We saw almost every behavior possible; from spyhopping to lobtailling to pectoral slapping to breaching. We even got so see a few calves rolling around belly up and wrestling with one another. Just adorable!
Once we saw this behavior we immediately dropped the hydrophone and listened in. They were vocalizing as one would expect, with such a big group, chattin’ up a storm. The crew and passengers really appeared to be beside themselves listening in and watching an entirely different community communicate and move as one. Today it really struck home that this world is not solely ours, rather we share it with many other amazing creatures.
Counting my blessings today!
Naturalist Tara, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Breaching, j pod, K Pod, L pod, Lobtailling, Lopez Island, Pectoral Slapping, Rosario Strait, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spyhopping
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Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
A day of adventure here in the San Juan Islands. We departed on flat, calm water cruising north through the San Juan Channel when we heard reports of killer whales on the west side of the island near Kellet Bluff. We found the whales 1.5 miles offshore from Lime Kiln Point (48°32.49’N, 123°10.71’W).
The whales were members of J-Pod. They were spread out, and cruising along the coast headed south. A member of the L-Pod, L87 “Onyx”, was also seen among the J’s. Unfortunately the seas were deteriorating and the whales were headed into rougher waters, unusual for San Juan Islands, so we turned around and headed back to more sheltered waters. Even with the rougher seas we still had a great view of the whales. Thanks Captain Mike!
Back in calm waters we headed into the San Juan Channel and motored along the coast of Spieden Island. Over 60 Harbor Seals were hauled out on a rock just off the island while an immature Bald Eagle perched on a rock above. What a great photo opportunity! We then had wonderful views of the Sika deer and Mouflon sheep foraging on the hillside while a few mature bald eagles soared in the skies overhead. At the west end of the island a Stellar Sea Lion swam in the waters surfacing to capture glimpses of us while a California sea lion was hauled out on the rocky shore, seeming oblivious to our presence.
All smiles here in the San Juan Islands.
Naturalist, Amy
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal, j pod, L pod, Mouflon Sheep, orca whales, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Steller\'s Sea Lion
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Sunday, April 22nd, 2012
California Sea Lion
A Warm Spring Day of Whale & Wildlife Watching from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island
Today we took off with reports of our resident orcas coming north on the west side of San Juan Island.
We headed out of Friday Harbor going north making a stop at NWR Yellow Island, and rock outcroppings with 43+ snoozing Harbor Seals. We made our way along the coast of Speiden Island. Often times this is a great place to spot Bald Eagles – no Eagle this time. But we did see about 10 Sea Lions. All but one was a Stellar. The other was a California Sea Lion -deep dark brown in color with the telltale knot on his forehead as if he had been clobbered.
We made our way slowly into Haro Straight between Henry Island and Stuart Island. Up came dorsals. Out came whale breath. Over all there may have been 15 – 20 animals. They were traveling in small groups of 6 – 8 and it appeared to me that they were in a resting-style mode.
Residents can be very vocal. No vocalizations today – we dropped the hydrophone three separate times.
Residents can be very playful and energetic. None of that today. Lots of slow “up” and sinking back “down”. The water was glass-like. No wind. No noise. It felt very peaceful bobbing in the water with the engine off.
On the way home we did see at least two mature bald eagles, one in a nest. The boat made another quick stop on the end of Speiden. The Stellars and California Sea Lions were still in the water where we left them. Just before pulling into Friday Harbor we spotted a California Sea Lion hogging a red buoy. I think I saw some zzzzzz’s over his head.
And there was one Common Murre fishing next to the buoy to complete our wildlife viewing for today.
Naturalist, Colleen Johansen
San Juan Safaris Whale & Wildlife Watching
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cactus Island, California Sea Lion, Common Murre, friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, Haro Strait, henry island, j pod, K Pod, L pod, Orca whale, orca whales, Orcas, san juan island, san juan islands, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spieden Island, Stellar sea lion, Stuart Island, yellow island
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Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
Yes, we saw orca whales today on the 2nd of October – late in the whale watching season. We took off from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island heading north toward Spieden Island. As we neared Speiden, one of the guests spotted a large brown head which turned out to be a great big stellar sea lion fishing by himself. We stayed on the south side of Speiden and Shelly spotted a mature bald eagle up in a tree. Down below the Mouflon Sheep and Sitka Deer were roaming about.
We pushed on to Haro Strait and started south down Henry Island to the west side of San Juan Island. We were a bit south of Kellet’s Buff and north of Lime Kiln Point when orca whales came into view. It was part of L pod that we were viewing. We sat for about 40 minutes watching the orca pursuing fish. Surfacing for air, switching directions back and forth the whales this up the entire time we sat there. Capt. Mike put down the hydrophone and there was some whale calls that could be heard. Light calling – not a lot.
As we headed further south on the west side, some Dall’s porpoise started riding our bow. Brief, but what a treat. As the water was gliding I by, I screamed out “loon!” and sure enough it was. Then at the southern tip of the island I spotted a BROWN Pelican in a raft of sea birds. Brown pelican may be common where you are from, but they are a bit of a rarity here in the islands. Near Lopez Island, we stopped at a large rock outcropping to view at least 30 stellar sea lion, what seemed like hundreds of cormorants and gulls. One could definitely smell these animals prior to actually seeing them.
What made this trip so enjoyable for me was that every guest on the boat seemed interested in anything Shelly or I could tell them about the area, birds, trees and wildlife.
This is the last daily tour of the season for us and what a trip it was.
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal, Haro Strait, L pod, Lopez Island, Mouflon Sheep, Orca whale, orca whales, Orcas, salish sea, san juan island, seattle whale watching, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spieden Island, Steller\'s Sea Lion, Strait of Juan de Fuca, whale watching near seattle, whale watching tour
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Saturday, October 1st, 2011
Well, things are definitely winding down. In just a few days there will be no more trips and probably no more whales until next year. We were super lucky today and found a small section of L pod down in Haro Strait off the west side. The water was super calm even though it was a bit rainy.
On the way home we stopped at got some final looks at all the Steller’s at Whale Rocks and called it a day. Until next year…
Mike
San Juan Safaris
Tags: L pod, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
We only have a few more trips left in our season up here, but the whales don’t know that. Today we found members of our resident pods K and L, almost 50 whales, spread out in Haro Strait heading up to Turn Point. We were able to identify K20 (possibly with a new calf? yet to be confirmed), L87, L41, L88, and K40. We got to see a wide range of behaviors and all our passengers were very excited.
On the way home we stopped along Spieden and saw many harbor seals on the rocks, as well as four-legged mammals grazing on the hillside including some bucks and a few rams. The icing on the cake was the Bald Eagle standing on the shore line with a salmon in its talons, and a handful of Steller Sea Lions lazing in the water at Green Point.
Mike
Naturalist
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal, Haro Strait, K Pod, L pod, orca whales, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spieden Island
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Monday, September 19th, 2011
I thought yesterday was one of the calmest days we have seen this season, but I was wrong. It was today. We found some Orcas outside of Cattle Pass towards Hein Bank. The first animal we got a good look at was L41. He was generally traveling South, but not with any speed. So we had some fun times hanging out with him.
After a little bit we headed farther north and came across a lot more of L41′s family. They seemed to be mostly milling and resting, but after about 10 minutes of swimming in circles one of them breached unexpectedly. That seemed to motivate the rest of the group to start tail slapping and spy hopping. To end the encounter one of the smaller animals had a nice breach right in our passengers line of sight.
On the way home we stopped for the Steller’s around Whale Rocks, and just as we were entering the harbor we were able to shut down the engines and let a nice pod of Harbor Porpoise swim right past us!
Mike
Naturalist – San Juan Safaris
Tags: Harbor Porpoise, L pod, Orca whale, Orcas
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Friday, September 16th, 2011
Despite the chilly weather and gray skies today was another amazing day. Whales were down south of Salmon Bank. On our journey south we saw the usual (yet always exciting) seals, sea lions and harbor porpoise. Once we were out in the straight we had an unexpected encounter with 2 little minke whales (and 2 more in the distance). After the wonderful surprise Minke sighting we pressed on even farther south. The whales were headed south and west. The first two residents we came upon were L88 and L26. They were milling in one spot for several minutes, rolling around each other with some interesting behavior. After a while they straightened up and followed the rest of the pod west. We weren’t sure what exactly the whales were doing. Some of them seemed to be traveling at a good clip. Some of them were milling in all directions. Finally we saw several good size salmon leap out of the water; a good indication that hunting was indeed happening. Right before we turned to head back home a little whale surfaced just in front of us. We got a great look at the saddle and identified the little guy as K34, a juvenile (well, almost teenage) male.
It was a brisk day on the water, but worth it to be out with orcas and minkes!
Oh, a word to the wise, if you are reading this and will be coming out with us….bundle up! The weather has changed. You can never have enough layers and being prepared and warm will ensure that you get the most out of your wildlife adventure! The good news is, the whales don’t care if it is a bit chilly. They are always prepared. See you soon!
Laura, naturalist
Tags: Cattle Pass, Harbor Seals, K Pod, L pod, Orca whale
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